Baharlu

The Baharlu are an Oghuz Turkic tribe. Minorsky saw them as the Baranlu, the ruling clan of the Qara Qoyunlu (Black Sheep) Turkmen dynasty of the 14th-15th centuries, descended from the Yiva branch of the Oghuz; Malcolm thought them a branch of the Shamlu. After the Qara Qoyunlu fell, Baharlu groups scattered: Bairam Khan, regent of the Mughal emperor Akbar, was a Baharlu, and under the Safavids Zaman Khan Baharlu held Fars, Kerman and Isfahan. Fars, where most Baharlu live, is regarded as the tribe's home; smaller branches live in Hamadan (Bahar), Kurdistan (Qorveh), Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari (Saman), Isfahan (Najafabad), Kerman and Khorasan, and the name is also found in Turkey (Diyarbakir) and the Republic of Azerbaijan (Agdam). In 1861-62 the Fars Baharlu joined the Khamseh confederation. The tribe counts 24 clans, including the Mousikhani, Baranlu, Karimlu, Telke, Suleymanli, Jarqeh and Joqeh. Baharlu speak their own Turkish dialect and see themselves as Qizilbash Turkmen, distinct from the Qashqai.

The Fars Baharlu migrated between summer quarters in Ramjerd and Marvdasht and winter quarters near Sarvestan and Darab until they settled along the Darab river in the early 20th century. Baharlu weaving is renowned: carpets and bags with symmetrical knots and red-dyed double wefts, dense with birds and pomegranate trees; Baharlu weavers make more all-bird carpets than any other Fars tribe, and their rugs are ranked second only to Qashqai work. Women wear colourful long dresses and headscarves like other Fars tribal women. Weddings feature drum and shawm music and the women's handkerchief dance, shared with Qashqai neighbours. The tribe keeps genealogical memory of its Qara Qoyunlu and Mughal heroes, and its Turkish differs from Qashqai in everyday words (Baharlu say dada for father where Qashqai say bua).

The Baharlu of Iran are Twelver Shia, with Muharram rites, vows at imamzadeh shrines and pilgrimage to Shiraz and Mashhad at the centre of religious life. Folk beliefs about the evil eye, charms and saints' intercession blend with formal practice. Some Baharlu in Turkey are Hanafi Sunnis.

The South Azerbaijani Bible is complete (2009-2013) and available with audio and the JESUS Film, and the closely related Qashqai New Testament, JESUS Film and Global Recordings Network audio are also intelligible to Fars Turkic speakers. Persian Bibles, satellite broadcasts and online Persian Christian media reach the many who are bilingual or now Persian-speaking. There is no known outreach specific to the tribe and no known believers.